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Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Golubtsy, a Russian Comfort Food

One of my husband's favorite foods is cabbage, so I am always on the hunt for new ways to cook it. My husband's favorite cabbage dish would have to be golubtsy, or cabbage rolls. Golubtsy is a Russian dish that consists of meat wrapped in a cabbage leaf and then stewed. I have come across many versions of this dish, each one tasting as delicious as the other. Here is how I make it:

Ingredients

Head of cabbage

Ground beef

Rice

Onion

Tomato paste

Can of beer

Paprika

Worcestershire sauce

For my recipe, I use 8 big leaves from a head of cabbage. Boil the leaves until tender. *To make this easier, I boil the whole head and peel the 8 outer leaves. This leaves me with the rest of the head which I continue to cook and save for another meal.

Chop and saute your onions until translucent.

In a bowl, mix together 1 lb of ground beef, 1 cup of cooked rice, 1 tbsp of paprika, 1 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce, and the cooked onion.

Spoon mixture into the center of each leaf and roll (into a burrito shape).

In a separate bowl, mix together a 1/4 cup of water, 1 can of tomato paste, and 1 can of beer. This will be your sauce.

In the bottom of a Dutch oven, spread a spoonful of sauce to create a bed for the rolls. Place your rolls seam side down.

Pour the remainder of your sauce over the rolls. Cook over medium-high heat for about 45 minutes, the meat will have steamed inside of the rolls. Serve with the sauce and a spoonful of sour cream. This recipe serves 4-8 people (depending on how hungry your bunch is...my family had one per person).

Here is a Dutch oven I would recommend for those of you who would prefer to not cook with a cast iron one. This is a very reasonable price and it is great quality. You can use your Dutch oven for many different types of dishes. This is honestly one thing I could not live without in my kitchen, I cook everything in mine!